EIGHTH WEEK OF LEGISLATIVE SESSION
The Legislature has now completed the eighth week of session, and activity continues to pick up as both chambers engage in more floor debate. This week alone, more than 150 bills were approved off the floor between the House and Senate.
We have also reached the midpoint between the two legislative “funnel” deadlines. In the coming week, committees will resume meeting to review bills that have crossed over from the other chamber. These committees will evaluate which proposals should continue moving through the process ahead of the second funnel deadline.
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
With two weeks remaining before the second funnel deadline, several ISC-tracked bills are moving forward and approaching that important
cutoff.
A bill related to lifetime hunting licenses has passed a House subcommittee and is now eligible for consideration by the full House
Natural Resources Committee, as is ISC’s bill addressing nonresident doe tags. In addition, bills related to hunter safety and lifetime fur
harvester licenses are scheduled for subcommittee hearings next week.
Please continue to stay in touch with your legislators and encourage them to support and advance ISC-supported legislation, which you can review in the bill tracker below.
BILL TRACKER
** New Information highlighted in yellow**
**Bills ISC supports are in green**
**Bills ISC opposes are in red**
**Bills ISC is monitoring are in blue**
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
With floor debate underway and the second funnel deadline in two weeks, we need to start making a big push to get bills through one chamber and advance those that have already passed to ensure they clear committee in the opposite chamber so they become “second funnel–proof.”
Senate Priorities
1. Pass SF 424 — Elimination of the Celebrity Deer Tag. This bipartisan proposal would reduce pressure on Iowa’s deer herd while continuing to support Iowa conservation groups.
House Priorities
1. House Natural Resources Committee — Pass SF 2318. Advancing this bill will help ensure science-based deer management decisions can be made efficiently and responsibly.
2. Oppose HF 2657 (full House) HF 2657 would allow a nonresident hunter to claim residency status for the purpose of obtaining a hunting license — effectively a pathway to securing a buck tag. Iowa’s deer herd is not for sale. This policy would invite exploitation and, over time, could erode the quality of our buck population.
Iowa’s carefully crafted regulations have made our state the Whitetail Capital of the World. We must protect those standards to preserve hunting opportunities for residents and maintain the strength of our deer herd for future generations.
PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME!
Phil Jeneary
